Life Experiences - Crew

 Lily has been loving reading through all of our blog posts that have been printed into books.  I love how excited she is to tell me about all of the things that I wrote about her when she was little.  Lucky girl!  Even though I have tried really hard to keep up with pictures and highlights throughout the years . . . I do feel bad that as the years have gone by, I have become less detailed and the other kids don't get to read about all of the funny little things that they said and did.  

I also love reading the blog books and having the sweet reminders of all of the memories that have been made throughout the years.  Good and bad.  It is in these moments where I can see how fast time flies by.  The days are sometimes slow - but the years go by so fast!  

I want to try and capture and record some of the kiddos highlights that I know they will love to read years down the line.  Just as Lily has.  

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Oh Crew boy!!  My sweet and loving cuddle bug!  My stubborn ignorer!  He has been making us laugh over and over again lately.

Notice anything different in this pic?  I can't stop laughing at this and want to remember this always . . . A few weeks ago I had noticed a few screws missing from our bedroom light switch plate.  I didn't think much of it and just assumed we had forgotten to put the screws back in after we painted our room awhile back. Garrett started noticing that other screws were missing in many other light switch plates in other rooms also.  We were kind of puzzled.  Garrett asked Crew if he knew anything about this.  Crew got really serious and said, "I am saving the screws so that I can build a house."  Crew then showed Garrett his stash of screws in a cup underneath his bed.  

The cute Crew has my heart!  He asks me every week, "When can we have a mom and sone date?" I hope that he will always want to do this!

Crew as of late has really wanted to earn as much money as he can.  In that same breath, he is the first one to willingly give up his money to everyone to just be nice.  We did have to have a tough learning lesson about money, however.  Garrett had just sold his grill and put the cash from the sale in our kitchen drawer.  A couple of weeks later, I was searching for the cash and couldn't find it anywhere.  Garrett couldn't find it either.  We finally asked all of the kids if they had seen it.  We could tell that Crew wasn't being completely honest  . . . after having a serious conversation about lying he tearfully admitted that he had all of the cash in his beloved wallet.  (His consequence for lying was his treasured wallet taken away until he could earn our trust back.)  It was a humbling experience for both us and Crew.  I honestly don't think he was trying to "steal" the money.  He just saw it and thought it was up for grabs since it was in our junk drawer.  But when we called him out on it - I think he realized it was something he shouldn't have done. It has been sweet to watch him try so hard to never lie again.

(By Crew: Mom I am soree for beying bad to you. Biye the waye I love you.)

This kid always seems to have some sort of ball in his hands.  I am constantly reminding him that he cannot play ball in the house and yet everyday I am still reminding him to quit throwing a ball at the front door and playing catch with it.  

Another learning experience came at school recess.  He and a bunch of boys absolutely love to play soccer.  Crew began to get frustrated with one particular boy when he wouldn't listen to Crew when he explained that he couldn't throw the soccer ball into the goalie with his hands.  Apparently, the boy refused to listen to the rules of the game and continued to use his hands.  This frustrated Crew so much that he "accidentally" hit the boy in his stomach,  Crew's teacher pulled me aside after school and had Crew tell me what happened.  With tears in his eyes, he admitted what he had done.  I am thankful for a loving kindergarten teacher that handled this particular situation so well.  Usually if a child hits another child they are sent directly to the principals office.  Because she know how kind Crew usually is - she chose not to punish him that way.  He did have to apologize to the other boy and he had to lose out on fun Friday in the classroom.  He also had a really really long time out at home on a kitchen chair. Life lessons are really hard!  But I see how beneficial these learning experiences have been for him and all of us.  

He is our sportster through and through!  Though small in stature - he tries so hard to keep up with the bigger kids and plays hard and quick.  He is really talented in all of the sports that he tries.  He has tried baseball, soccer, roller hockey and he is now interested in starting basketball.

Most of the time you will catch Crew shirtless.  He is constantly asking if he can take off his shirt because he is supposedly hot.  He totally reminds me of my brothers.  I remember they would always run around with their shirts off when they were really young. 

Crew is a loyal friend.  He loves to be social and currently his very best friend is Zack Westenskow.  They really are like 2 peas in a pod.  Both sporty and bossy and both small and fierce.


(Happy Mother's day. mom.  fome: crew Mom is the best in the wrld. I love my mom   By: Crew Updike)

 

Despite his fierce determination in all things - he really is the most sensitive and kind boy.  He loves to give loves.  I love it when he becomes really chatty and just talks about everything and anything. I just really love everything about this wonderful boy!

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